Posts by Ben Silverman

Most big video games these days are released in a few different shapes and sizes. You can buy a standard $60 disc, go with a disc-free digital download, or, if you’ve got the dough, opt for a pricier Collector’s Edition, which typically includes the game, a commemorative statue, and some art books.

But if you want, say, a zombie shelter, night-vision goggles, parkour lessons, and adult diapers, you’ll have to cough up a little more cash.

Those are just a few of the goodies included in the ridiculous My Apocalypse Edition of recently released zombie game Dying Light being offered by UK retailer GAME. Only one copy is available, in part because that copy costs £250,000, or about $385,000.

What does a gamer get for that kind of bread? The My Apocalypse Edition aims to simultaneously terrify you and give you the tools to survive a real zombie epidemic.

Sound like a publicity stunt? Yeah, it totally is, and that’s nothing new for GAME.

The first big PS4 exclusive of 2015 is set in a steampunk version of Victorian England policed by gruff, gun-toting descendants of the Knights of the Round Table. Werewolves are running amuck, Jack the Ripper is Jack the Rippering, and the only thing standing between chaos and order is you, your crew of fellow knights, and your hefty wrought-iron ordnance. Also, there are zeppelins.

It’s a fine setup for an action game, and when it’s cooking, The Order: 1886 is quite a sight. But even virtues like great graphics and an intriguing setting mean little when you can’t find the holy grail of fun, interesting gameplay.

Your quest drops you in the clunky boots of Sir Galahad, the latest in a long line of Galahads descended from the real deal. Black Water, a substance infused with superjuice from the grail, gives each knight an extended lifespan. Once they crap out for good, the name is passed down to a new knight. There are no seat fillers at the Round Table.

These days, the arrival of a new video game console is a big, brash event. Fans line up for hours at countless retailers for fancy midnight launches. Gamers eagerly plunk down cash, shake hands with a Company Representative, and proudly raise their haul above their heads like ancestral hunters hoisting a fresh kill.

Yeah, it’s ridiculous. It’s also not always been that way.

Take the launch of the original Nintendo Entertainment System, which was so hard to find when it arrived on U.S. shores in 1985 that you had to write a letter to the company to get one.

Kotaku has the lowdown on the rarely seen ‘information packs’ that Nintendo sent out to prospective NES buyers. Distinctly lo-fi – it seems to have been typed up and stapled together – the pack includes details on the games, accessories, and system itself, as well as a list of the whopping three U.S. retailers that actually stocked the thing.

The gearheads at toy company Anki stumbled upon a little slice of genius when they pulled Anki Drive out of the garage back in 2013. Essentially slot cars without the slots, the system lets players use mobile devices to steer sleek, futuristic toy cars around what looks like a flat sheet of thick plastic. It’s a killer trick — Drive was the runaway hit of Thanksgiving 2014 for the Silverman clan — but it’s been hampered by one pretty sizable problem: You can’t make your own tracks. No ramps for you. That changes later this year. Anki Overdrive trades Drive 's fixed tracks for a new modular format that lets players build their own. It’s probably what Anki should have been from the starting line. The upcoming Overdrive Starter Kit ($150) includes two new cars, a four-car charging base, two little risers, and 10 track pieces, which can be arranged in eight different layouts. The track segments snap together using high-powered magnets and initially come in an assortment of straightaways and curves.

Quoting sources ‘familiar with the matter’, The Wall Street Journal reports that Netflix is developing a series based on Nintendo’s beloved action adventure franchise The Legend of Zelda. The WSJ says it’s in the ‘early stages’ and that Netflix is working closely with Nintendo on it.

The show is being described as ‘ Game of Thrones for a family audience’, so basically Game of Thrones with all the good stuff cut out.

The Zelda series has an unflattering history with TV adaptations. A 13-episode cartoon series - best known for generating the awesome “Excuuuuuse me, Princess” meme - ran briefly in 1989.

Netflix has been on a tear lately, however, and it’s setting its sights squarely on the geek crowd with a Marvel development deal that will produce shows based on Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage. A Legend of Zelda series is a big deal.

The WSJ notes that Netflix has yet to line up a writer, though, so there’s still plenty of time for this particular hero to get lost in the woods.

I still remember playing the original in a long-since vanished Berkeley arcade, anxiously fumbling through moves in the hopes of triggering one of those nasty Fatalities everyone (including the government) was talking about. Gamers had never seen anything quite like it.

We’ve seen plenty like it since, however. Over a dozen games and a pair of feature films – with another on the way – have kept us dripping in digital gore for over two decades. But just as longtime license holder Midway was crashing, Warner Bros. Interactive and developer NetherRealm Studios (helmed by series co-creator Ed Boon) brilliantly rebooted it with a terrific 2011 effort. That game never got a proper follow-up, however, as the studio went on to launch the excellent Injustice franchise instead.

You’ve likely played at least one Legend of Zelda game. That game probably wasn’t Majora’s Mask.

Not that it wasn’t a hit. Originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 2000, Majora’s Mask sold nearly 4 million copies. It boasts an innovative time-travel premise, features great combat and puzzles, and ranks among the most critically-acclaimed games in the long-running franchise.

But still it’s considered a sleeper, a lost classic. Why? Who knows. Perhaps it’s the fact that it directly followed what most gamers consider to be the high water mark of the 3D Zelda games, 1998’s groundbreaking Ocarina of Time . Or maybe its darker tone and strange mechanics kept some folks at bay. You could even blame it on the PlayStation 2, which was released on the very same day. Ouch.

No matter how you missed it - or how long it’s been since you helped Link save a peculiar world from an angry, falling moon - Nintendo is giving you a do-over. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D isn’t just a beautifully sad, wildly creative, and smartly updated port of a 15-year-old game for the 3DS. It’s a must-own action adventure for any Nintendo gamer worth his weight in Rupees.

As the final boss in the NES classic Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! , Iron Mike reigns as one of the most challenging video game characters of all time. Beating him is a gamer’s badge of honor.

Beating him blindfolded? Well now you’re just showing off, you showy showoff:

This totally insane achievement was pulled off by speedrunning expert Jack Wedge on a Wii running the emulated NES game. He didn’t even use a code ( 007 373 5963 , seared into my memory) to skip right to Tyson, either. With a beanie pulled over his head and facing away from the TV, Wedge managed to work his way through all 13 preliminary fights, toppling King Hippo, Bald Bull, Don Flamenco and the rest before hopping into the ring with the former Baddest Man on the Planet.

We’ve known about the Wii U’s sales problems for a while now, of course. More surprising? The 3DS, which was once considered a buoy in a storm, is slowly starting to sink.

While there are now an impressive 50 million 3DS units in the wild, sales are slowing down. Blame it on smartphones or free-to-play or whatever you want, but the fact remains that even with great-selling software like Super Smash Bros. and Pokemon , fewer people are buying 3DS systems. Nintendo has even lowered its fiscal year forecast. Companies hate doing that.

The good news? The company has a plan, one that should be familiar to longtime Nintendo watchers: Tweak the thing and release a new model.

Nintendo has already done it twice before with the 3DS. First came the 3DS XL, a boon for gamers with adult-size hands. Then came the 2DS, a flat, indestructible doorstop stripped of its 3D capabilities but built to weather the bumpy lifestyle of a 5-year-old.

So says EA’s annual Super Bowl simulation, at least. If the Xbox One version of Madden NFL 15 is to be believed, the ball-obsessed QB will nab his fourth Super Bowl ring this Sunday when the New England Patriots top the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 to win Super Bowl XLIX.

According to the sim, it’ll be a nailbiter.

The Patriots struck first with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Brady to tight end/surprising foodie Rob Gronkowski. Seattle answered back with a field goal, and after trading TDs in the 2 nd quarter, the vaunted Seahawks defense finally stepped up when cornerback Earl Thomas III intercepted a Brady pass for a 58-yard pick six, giving Seattle a 17-14 edge going into the half.

On the strength of 355 yards and 4 touchdown passes, Brady took home his third Super Bowl MVP award. Lynch was a bright spot for Seattle with 118 yards and 2 touchdowns.